The winds of time
by Vampiregirl0421
Summary: Ace, Sabo and Luffy expected many things to happen in their lives. Many extraordinary things Well, they certainly didn't expect to be whisked away to another dimension to save something they hold dear. Will they save what they are meant to, or will they die trying? Follow them as they travel through time and space! I mean, what could go wrong? Rated T for safety.
1. Prologue

_The winds of fate_

 _Prologue_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own one piece. it belongs to Mr. Oda.**_

It was a normal day in Fusha. As normal as it could get anyways. Ace, Sabo and Luffy were running through Hightown again.

Ace was a 10 year old boy with silver eyes, wavy black hair and lots of freckles. He was also the only biological son of the first pirate king, Gol D Roger. Because of this, people who didn't even know he existed wanted him dead. They saw his only existence as an unforgivable sin. This caused him to believe, that he shouldn't have ever been born. He was the tallest of three.

Sabo was also 10 years old, but he had short wavy blonde hair and round black eyes. He usually wore a blue top hat with grayish goggles around it. He was the biological son of a noble, but he never really cared about the noble traditions or his blood-family, as they only tended to hurt him or others. He ran away from home when he was 5, and he lived in grey terminal for 5 years after that. Then he moved in with Ace and Luffy. He was the second tallest.

Luffy was a cheerful boy. He was much younger than the other two, as he was only seven years old. He had straight, black hair, round black eyes (a scar underneath his left eye), an impossibly wide D shaped grin and he always wore a straw hat, wich he hat gotten from his idol, Shanks. He was the biological son of the most wanted man in the world, Monkey D Dragon. He didn't know his father, but just like Ace, his only existence was seen as a sin to most people(that was, it would have if anyone had known they existed). Even so, he didn't hate him simply because he didn't know he had a father. He was still naive, but he had an excellent nose when it came to judging people. He was the smallest of the three.

As I said before, it was as normal as it could get with those three boys running around. They had just outrun the guards when something strange happened. Something very strange.  
A voice that sounded a lot like a young girls said:

" Thou est in the now, the here and the there,  
But I could send you everywhere.  
Change fates of your beloved here,  
And save someone very dear.  
Hurry on, and have some fun  
While you change things on the long run."

"Who said this! Show yourself!", Ace cried, bringing his pipe up in a defensive position. Sabo was looking around frantically and Luffy? Well he was being Luffy.

"So COOL! Let's have an adventure!"

"SHUT IT!", Sabo asked Ace yelled, knocking Luffy on his head.

"Itte! That hurt!", Luffy complained.

"It was supposed to!", Ace yelled.

"You guys, shut up. We need to be ready for whatever is gonna happen and your bickering isn't helping at all.", Sabo scolded them.

"Shishishi! Sorry!", Luffy giggled.

Ace was probably about to yell at Luffy (again) when the wind suddenly started blowing at an unnatural fast pace. First, it simply started circling around them, but as it got stronger and faster, the boys were twirled and eventually blown around.

"The winds of change, the ones that started to blow  
You around this place will show  
That your future is in your hands alone  
So look and see to where you're blown  
You have two years, time will stop for you,  
To do the things you have to do  
There are many mysteries to find out about  
Many more than you can count  
Now go on, save yourselves from your fate  
And I promise you will all get to make  
A wish, if for you or for me  
That's what we'll get to see  
Now before more time flies by  
We'll have to say goodby."

Ace, Sabo and Luffy could recognize the voice as the mystery girls' voice before they were shaken around so violently that they had to put all their energy into staying together. It was impossible to think, and frankly said, it was a wonder that they were still conscious. Not that they stayed it very long. Even Luffy's rubber body couldn't handle all the stress, so after five minutes, they all blacked out. Yet even then, they didn't stop holding each others hands tightly.

 ** _So, this is my first fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I know the prologue is short, but I still have more! I will try to update at least every two weeks, but I can't promise it since I have a lot of class tests coming up in the future. If you have constructive criticism, please do leave a review and help me improve my work! Also, thank you to Lunapok for inspiring me to write this!_**

 ** _See you soon!_**


	2. Chapter 1 The Arrival

_The winds of fate_

 _Chapter one_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own one piece. It belongs to Mr. Oda**_

Groaning, the three boys awoke. It wasn't pleasant to travel by a big whirly wind thingy, and they had to recollect themselves first.

It didn't take to long for Luffy, seeing as his body reacted differently to stress ( he was made out of rubber for God's sake.).

He was jumping around again in a matter of minutes. Ace and Sabo however,needed about ten minutes to recollect themselves (not that they'd ever admit it). Sabo then began writing everything down that the girl said.

"Oi, Sabo. Why are you doing that?", Ace asked.

"Because the girl might have said something that could help us survive. I mean, she did send us here after all."

"You got a point there Sabo. Still, why didn't I think of that?- Wait don't answer me that.", Ace added quickly as he saw Sabo starting to smirk.

"Well, I would have enlightened you with my opinion, Sir Portgas, but that would have, as you guessed correctly, offended you.", Sabo said, trying to hide his snickers.

That's when they realized it was quiet. Too quiet. They both turned with closed eyes around and hoped that what they feared most didn't just happen. Ace and Sabo both gulped, then they opened their eyes. As they say, what can go wrong will go wrong.

And everything went wrong in that second.

"Luffy.", both said simultaneously, worry and anger lacing their voices.

Luffy was missing.

- _with Luffy-_

Luffy was currently running through the streets of the village he found on the island. He was searching for a food place to dine and dash at. It wasn't that hard, considering he had an excellent nose when it came to food.

' Nani? Where are Ace and Sabo?', he thought. ' Oh well, they must've gotten lost. I'm worried about them, but if I find food on my own, they won't say I'm weak anymore! Then they'll be proud of me. But I get ALL the meat for myself! Our maybe just half of it for me and Ace and Sabo can eat the other half! My brothers need meat too, they love it after all! Shishishi! That will work out great!'

As Luffy continued running, the people on the island sent him weird looks. It didn't happen everyday that a stranger ran along their island at full speed. And this stranger was a kid no older than seven! Luffy on the other hand simply ignored the people and focused solely on finding food.

 _-meanwhile with Ace and Sabo-_

Ace and Sabo were pretty close to storming the island to find Luffy. He was there a second ago and now he was just gone.

They needed to find him before he did something too crazy. With Lu, the question wasn't 'if' he'll do something crazy. The question was/ questions were where would it happen, what would happen and who would be involved in it. In other words, they were completely screwed it they didn't find him soon.

"Let's split up.", Ace suggested." I'll go left and you go right."

"Wait a minute, ashes for brains. We don't know anything about this island and might end up getting lost too if we split up.", Sabo reasoned as he grabbed Ace's shirt, preventing him from running off.

"Fine you've got a point, Sabo.", Ace grudgingly admitted." Still, we won't find him faster. And we have like, no idea where he went. What are you going to do about that, smartass?"

"Well, we just have to think about where he would go first.", Sabo concluded." Them we'll be able to find him."

"Now where could he have gone?", Ace asked, when the boys eyes lit up in understanding( and horror).

"Oh crap!", Ace cursed.

"Yep Ace, we need to find a good food place.", Sabo said in defeat.

' This will be fun.', they thought, mentally sighing.

- _with Luffy again_ -

Luffy was currently running towards the center of the town. There were a lot of people here. As he looked around, he could see three giant-giant guys, seven giant guys and one slightly-smaller-giant guy.

' Shishishi, that's so cool!", he thought. ' When I become a pirate,I want guys as cool as those as my nakama!'

He continued running, when he saw a flag hanging proudly over the towns centre. It was a Jolly Roger of some sort. It had a long, rectangular chin and a cresent/banana-shaped moustache with four bones crossed behind it. Luffy stopped to admire the flag.

"SO COOL!", he cried out. "WHEN I BECOME A PIRATE, MY FLAG IS GOING TO BE JUST AS COOL!"

This caused the people around him to chuckle.

"Yeah, Oyaji has a cool flag.", the one with the curly moustache and two swords said. "Surely you know it, little one."

Luffy looked at him and carelessly flicked a booger away.

"Nope"

There was spluttering from behind.

"He can't be serious!", a guy with two huge guns and a stripped green hat said, as he stared at Luffy.

"It looks like he is.", a guy that looked like a shark said."I can sense it"( so,I don't know that much about Fishman anatomy, but I figured if Namur is a shark, he should be able to tell if someone's lying or not, like how dogs can smell fear kinda).

Luffy looked at the shark-guy before asking:" What are you?"

The people around him turned towards him, eyeing him with a mixture of curiosity and distrust.

The shark-guy sighed." I'm a Fishman.", he said.

Luffy looked at him for exactly 3.3 seconds before running over to him and going him a hug. Everybody was startled.

"I think you're cool!", Luffy simply said before he ran off, causing everyone to stare after him.

 _-With Ace and Sabo -_

This was bad. Not that Luffy was gone and they had an idea where he went to. That was actually normal. No, it was the freaking Whitebeard-jolly Roger over the island that freaked them out.

Of all the islands they could've landed on it had to be one under Whitebeards protection. He would kill them if something bad happened, especially if he found out about Ace(at least that's what Ace thought)! Sabo wasn't too worried about Whitebeard. He was worried about people finding out about his heritage in this island and hating him for it. So both were pretty much ready to grab Luffy, make a mad dash towards the docks, steal a boat and get the hell out of there. Anywhere was better than staying. That's when they saw eleven guys standing in the center of the town, looking completely dumbfounded. The one shaped like a shark (a Fishman?) was even crying. Looks like Lu had been here before. Sighing, the two boys swallowed their fear, slowed down and went to talk to the people.

"Excuse me, have you seen our brother?". Sabo asked before Ace could, knowing his brother didn't have any manners.

The people looked at them.

"Depends.", said a literal giant with some kind of armor," How does he look like?"

"Black straight hair, scar under his left eye, cute, straw hat.", Ace said.

The people looked at each other.

"He just came barging through here and-"

The two boys ran off, running towards the direction the armor-guy pointed to. The people just looked after them, chuckling.

"These brats sure were somethin'."

"But didn't one remind you of Ace?"

 _-with Luffy-_

Luffy was kinda lost. One minute he was in the town center and the next minute he was in some kind of park. It was a nice park though, lots of flowers and other various plants. It was like a firework! The park was glowing in various shades of red, orange, pink, green, violet, yellow and white. And there were lots of cool animals. There were lots of insects, squirrels, chipmunks, and many more in lots of variations. But there aren't any animals worth hunting, as none had enough meat for even a snack.

Luffy stopped for a moment and looked around. Besides the things I already mentioned, he now noticed two people walking through the park. He decided to ask them for directions to a food place.

"EXCUSE ME MISTERS! DO YOU KNOW HOW TO GET TO A GOOD FOOD PLACE?", he hollered, partially remembering Makino's manner lessons. It was impolite to ask people something without saying ' excuse me'. Of course it was also impolite to yell at somebody, but he kinda forgot that. Oh well...

The people turned around and looked at him. One had an uncanny resemblance to a pineapple. Well at least his head. He had blonde hair, half lidded eyes and a slight beard. He wore a purple jacket that was open, revealing a very muscled chest. On his chest was a tattoo of a purple cross and crescent. He combined that with black pants and sandals.

The other guy wore black shoes and pants, the latter being held up by a belt with the motive at an ace of spades . He had a green dagger attached to his pants and he didn't wear a shirt. That showed his very muscled chest. Around his neck he wore a necklace that consisted of big, round red beads. On his head he had an orange cowboy hat with the same heads going around it's brim, holding a smiley and a frowny face in place. He had easy black hair and he reminded Luffy of someone.

The second guy stared at him for a second before crying: "LUFFY!"

- _with Ace and Sabo-_

Ace and Sabo entered the park that was in the direction the guys earlier pointed to. Sabo would have loved to take in the beautiful scenery and maybe study some of the animals, but they had more important things to do. Way more important things.

Like finding Luffy. Ace on the other hand didn't spare the park one look. He wasn't the type to enjoy parks that much anyway, so he probably wouldn't have even gone in the park if Luffy wasn't potentially there.

The two boys continued to run through the park searching for Luffy. Damn little brother getting lost! But he was their little brother and they loved him, so they had to find him.

With each minute passing without finding Luffy, both boys got more and more nervous. It meant one more minute being away from their precious brother, one more minute he could get into serious trouble, one more minute he could potentially be DEAD!

With that in mind, the boys started running even faster. None of them would ever forgive themselves if something happened to Luffy. Never.

That's when they heard a semi-familiar voice crying:" LUFFY!"

Both boys started sprinting towards the voice. They hat to get to their baby brother, no matter what.

- _With Luffy-_

Luffy was confused. The more he looked at the second guy, the more he reminded him of...

 **"ACE!"**

"Oh my god, Luffy!", the stranger know identified as Ace cried," What happened? Why aren't you on dawn island with Makino asked the mayor and Dadan anymore? And why are you so small? You should be fourteen!"

"Nee, Ace. Why are you so big? And know you have a cool hat too! And why should I be fourteen? I'm seven!", Luffy said, eyes sparkling with curiosity. So many questions!

 **"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE SEVEN! WHO IN THE FUCK** **IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS! I'M GOING TO BEAT THAT BASTARD INTO A BLOODY PULP! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT FUCKER..!"**

"Ace, calm down-yoi. You're using your potty mouth again", the pineapple man said. He them leaned down to Luffy and said:" I'm Marco-yoi. It's nice to meet you, Luffy-yoi. Ace has told us alot about you." He smiled.

Luffy looked at the man for a moment before saying:" Thank you mister pineapple ?!"

Marco's eye started twitching. It was getting hard not to lose control. Especially since Ace was rolling around on the ground whilst laughing and exclaiming:" I knew it! I knew it! Marco's a pineapple!" It was very hard, but Marco wasn't the first division commander for nothing. It took a looooooooooot of patience to deal with the crews (cough* Ace's, Thatch's, Haruta's* cough) crazy antics.

Instead Marco focused since he sensed something odd. He activated his observation Haki and he felt two young auras rapidly approaching." Ace, you might get some answers out of those two-yoi.", Marco said, noticing that one aura was very familiar.

Marco then stood up and turned around, only to see a younger version of Ace and a blonde kid looking their way. "Hello you two-yoi. We were wondering if you could answer some of our questions-yoi."

The kids weren't impressed the slightest. They started glaring at him. The younger version of Ace raised his pipe in a perfect stance to either attack or block. The blonde however looked around. Marco thought that the younger version of Ace was about to say something. What it was, he would never find out( and he was kinda grateful for it) because Luffy flung himself towards those two and embraced them.

" **ACE! SABO! I'M SO, SO ,SO GLAD YOU AREN'T LOST ANYMORE! ACE AND PINEAPPLE CAN SHOW US THE WAY TO A FOOD PLACE!"**

Marco's eye started twitching again.

"Luffy, don't every do that again!", the Blondie scolded Luffy. "If we would have lost you, Ace and I would've been very sad. Do you understand?"

Luffy nodded. " I understand, Sabo. I promise I won't do it again. I don't want my brothers to he sad. Ace and Sabo should always be happy!"

That's when big Ace stepped up. He looked at the trio and he paled. This made Marco worry. Ace never, _**NEVER**_ went pale.

"Ace? Is something wrong?"

"S- Sabo? Are you real?", older Ace said shakily. He was as pale as the moon by now.

"Of course I'm real.", Sabo answered. " But who are you and why are you reacting like that?"

"I'm Ace.", older Ace said. He then looked at younger Ace and said:" And you are Ace too."

Well, the younger Ace was pretty confused. And having the past he has, he reacted almost instantaneously to older Ace's statement. "Sabo! Luffy! Get back, it's probably a trap!", he cried, bringing his pipe up in a defensive position.

"Look kids, we don't want to hurt you.", Marco said. " But something must've happened. So let's see, what can you remember?"

Realization dawned on the trios faces as they remembered what had happened earlier. That had to be it. The reason why they were here, stuck on an island that Whitebeard protected.

"Oh oh! I know!", Luffy cried. " We were out, running around in Hightown when a mystery girl we couldn't see talked to us and then made the wind go Woah and whoosh and then we were here! Could I have some meat ?"

Marco and Sabo sweat dropped. They were possibly stuck somewhere forever and Luffy thought of meat. Well, both Aces stomachs grumbled which led Luffy to cry:" Look! Look! Ace and Ace are hungry too!"

Sabo sighed and he started to explain." As Luffy said, we were in Hightown when a girls voice started speaking. She told us lots of rhymes, that I wrote down the moment I was conscious again, so you can read them." He handed Marco the papers. " After that, the wind started blowing real fast and we were knocked out. The next thing I know is waking up here."

"I think I know what you're talking about. At least I know pops knows. Wet could ask him."

"No", younger Ace said." I'm not my endangering my brothers by going on his ship. For all I know he will absolutely hate me."

"Pops isn't like that," older Ace said," he doesn't want me dead."

 **"YOU'RE LYING!",** Ace cried." **YOU ARE LYING! EVERYBODY HATES ME AND THE WHOLE FREAKING WORLD WANTS ME DEAD! IT WILL JUST END UP IN SABO AND LUFFY GETTING KILLED WITH ME AND I'M NOT TAKING THAT RISK!"**

"Ace, don't cry!", Luffy said as he and Sabo cuddled Ace."

You've gotta be happy! You're my big brother and I don't like it when you are sad. And I can sense that they are telling the truth! This Whitebeard guy isn't bad. He's nice!"

"Yes, younger me, Luffy's right. Pops wouldn't do that. He knows about it and he doesn't care."

"C'mon Ace, give him a chance!", Sabo begged.

Ace looked at Sabo and Luffy, who were both staring at him with puppy dog eyes. Luffy could honestly own the world with those eyes.

"Alright fine. I'll give him a chance", younger Ace said," but the moment he does anything to my brothers or me, we are jumping off the ship."

"Deal then, kiddo-yoi (young Ace:" I'm not a kiddo!")."

Marco was content. He could convince them to come worth him after all. But the darkness in younger Ace's eyes was concerning. He was probably only ten, and his eyes were those of an eighty year old man who had experienced horrible things. Marco sighed. He would talk to pops about it when they arrived. For now, he could only walk along asked prevent any major fights. He picked up younger Ace ( completely ignoring his complains) while older Ace took Sabo and Luffy. Together they started walking towards the Moby Dick.

He hoped, that the reason they were sent here wasn't a bad one.

 _ **AN:**_ _ **Well, here is the first chapter of the story. I hope you enjoyed reading it! As you know, this is my first fanfiction, so I don't really now what to do. As comes, I will ask a few questions here once in a while. My question this week is: Should I respond to the reviews in the Author's Note? Please do answer that question, and maybe even give me advice! I would really appreciate that! See you soon!**_


	3. Chapter 2 Trustworthy?

The winds of time chapter two

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own one piece. It belongs to Mr. Oda**_

 _ **Please read the last paragraph of the Author's Note!**_

Marco sighed. This was gonna get way more difficult than he anticipated. I mean, he really should've expected something like that to happen. He should've. He didn't. And that got him into this damn mess. I mean, he already knew Ace, he had heard about Luffy. Yet, this managed to happen. He doesn't even know how it happened. It just did.

Well, my friend, are you wondering what happened? Well, it is quite the story actually. Nobody would have ever been able to forsee it. Not even Madam Shirley, and that woman was really skilled. Hell, Marco even doubted that Roger would have been able to forsee this, and that man had a strong instinct when it came to this kinda stuff.(AN: yeah, he must have, seeing as he got into trouble like this all the time. But some things are just completely unpredictable, I assume.)

Well, get this. Marco had just closed his eyes for a second when a big Ace had a narcolepsy attack, freaking Luffy and Sabo out in the process. Little Ace started freaking out, seeing his brothers falling. Well, it was actually predictable that Ace would freak out. Both were total Bro-cons after all. Marco, having the fast reflexes he had, quickly placed little Ace on the floor and jumped forward, barely catching Luffy and Sabo.

In the short minute, Marco was occupied with Sabo and Luffy, a completely random Bird swooped down and grabbed little Ace. Luffy, seeing a struggling Ace being carried away, did something he called:' Gomu-Gomu-no Rocket'.Marco already knew about his (Luffy's) Devil Fruit thanks to Ace, but it was still unsettling to see the kids arms stretch far beyond what a normal human is capable off. Even more unsettling was, that the kid's arms latched onto two trees right in front of them. Although, the most unsettling (and horrifying) thing was that the kid flew towards Marco and Sabo, grabbing onto them, and flinging them, along with himself towards the bird that held the still struggling Ace. That resulted into them bumping into the Bird, causing it to drop Ace. The good news was, that they had the younger Ace back. But ,of course, there was also a catch.

The bird had flown over a mud puddle that was in the park. Marco, not having any time to change into his bird form, did the only thing he could think of. He fell face first into the mud, so the boys wouldn't get dirty. What he did for them…

Well, it was too late to complain. Marco had brought this upon himself. It was his decision, his fault. So he endured the now awakened older Ace's snickers as he walked up to him with three unharmed boys while he, pardon the lack of appropriate term, looked like the mudmonster on a bad day. Marco sighed, put the kids down and bonked Ace on his head.

"Owwwww, Marco! What was that for?", older Ace whined.

"That was for being a complete idiot-yoi.", Marco answered. Seriously, he had to look after the kids and everything!

Speaking of the kids... It was way too quiet right now. Something was off, seriously off. Marco sighed. It looked like mini-Ace would give him just as hard of a time as the big one. That was to be expected.

He turned around, to find nothing. Literally nothing. Marco blinked. He must be dreaming. The kids had just... vanished. If he didn't know better, he'd say it was a devil fruit. But only little Luffy had one, and that was the gum-gum fruit. Speaking of it...

Marco looked up. He was standing under a tree with many branches. It was perfect to climb on, and the leaves on the tree provided a great hiding place. Well, if you could hide yourself, that is. Luckily, Luffy couldn't hide very well. Marco could see his straw hat poking through the leaves.

Marco glared at the big Ace. "If you move one inch away from where you are standing right now, you are done for-yoi!"

Ace gulped. He certainly didn't want an angry chicken after his ass, so he quickly nodded and said:" Yes!"

Marco started to climb up, only to be stopped by whispering. He wouldn't have noticed it if he didn't have haki, but as it was he could understand them clear as a bell. Marco wasn't really the one to eavesdrop, but what they discussed... It was way to dark for kids their age. He didn't hear much, but he heard enough. Apparently, Luffy really liked them and wanted to go see the 'really cool captain with the really cool flag'. Sabo was a bit more sceptical, but overall he had a positive attitude towards going on their ship. But little Ace...he thought they were going to die because of him and absolutely refused to even go near the ship. Did that have something to do with his outburst earlier?

He looked at Ace ,who started to understand what was going on. Ace then motioned for Marco to come down from the tree, and started to explain things to him. Marco got paler and paler the more Ace explained.

What he had just heard, explained a lot.

- _ **meanwhile with little Ace, Sabo and Luffy**_ -

Ace didn't know what had come over him. How could he trust them so easily?! Well, at least he knew that at least his copycat knew about his secret. Maybe this was a plot from the marines, in order to capture and execute him and his brothers. Or it was simply Whitebeard trying to get rid of his enemy once and for all. But then again, did he even deserve to live? He was the spawn of a demon after all... But even if he didn't deserve to live, his brothers did. That's why he pulled them up the tree the moment the pineapple head got distracted. Well, he asked Luffy to get them up with his fruit. Maybe rubber wasn't as dumb as he thought. It had saved him from that bird after all.

But there was another thing now that he thought about it! His older copycat fell asleep completely randomly! That was something he would never do! And that had gotten them into the mess with the bird before. But now that he thought about it, why did pineapple head save them? Could the Whitebeard pirates be nice after all?

 **NO, THEY COULDN'T!** It must have been a trick to lure them into safety, before stabbing them in the back.

He didn't trust them, and he never would! **NEVER!**

He said as much to his brothers, explaining his suspicions. He thought they had to see reason, but no... Luffy just kept on babbling about how he wanted to see the 'really cool captain with the really cool flag', while Sabo stated, that they should at least try it out, even if they didn't trust them completely. His point was, that things could change.

Of course, Ace didn't think that things could ever change, regarding him at least. That's why he refused to go to the ship. Even if they would like Sabo and Luffy, they would hate him and kill them all for it. No, he wouldn't let his brothers get killed because of him. Never!

That's what he told his brothers. Luffy was very understanding in that matter. Even though he wanted to see the captain, if Ace absolutely didn't want to, then he wouldn't. Sabo on the other hand seemed pretty disapproving of Ace's decision, even if he could understand it. That was when Sabo had an idea.

"Look, Ace,", he started," let us try to analyse the poem. Maybe there is a reason behind all of this. I don't think that girl would have brought us here if it were dangerous."

"How can you be so sure about that?", Ace retorted. " I mean, it's not like we know her. And we have no idea what she truly wanted. For all we know, she could have wanted to kill you."

Sabo took a deep breath. Ace could really be an idiot sometimes. He took a deep breath once again and he bonked Ace on the head. " Baka, if she had wanted to kill me and Lu, she would have wanted to kill you too. Don't act like your Life means nothing! **LUFFY AND I LOVE YOU!",** he finally yelled, completely disregarding the fact that they were supposed to be hiding. " **LUFFY AND I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT!"**

"Besides," Sabo continued a bit calmer, " if she were trouble, Lu wouldn't have let us anywhere near her, right Lu?"

" Of course not! If she felt wrong, I would have told Ace and Sabo! I don't want my brothers to get hurt!"

This made ace feel really warm inside. Luffy cared a lot about him! Of course, he already knew that but it was nice to see it for real. Even though that happened countless times with his brothers, he still felt reassured and warm every time. He smiled. "Well then Luffy,", he asked, " do these people feel wrong?"

"Nu-uh! Not at all! The old Ace feels like you two, really nice and cool , but more like Ace! Pineapple-head feels really cool and nice too, though he feels more like Sabo. Something Ace and I don't feel like..."

Ace's eye started to twitch while Sabo started laughing. Both knew what Luffy meant. It was something around the lines of calm, collected and mature. Sure, Ace was more mature than most kids his age, but he could behave like a three year old at times. And Luffy,...well that was self-explanitory. Literally.

Ace sighed. "Alright, I still don't trust them completely, but you two have reasons that I can not ignore. Let us at least try to analyse this poem, before I make my decision." Ace smiled.

Sabo and Luffy were relieved that Ace saw their points. He was beginning to think more positive slowly, that was the proof of that. He still had a long way to go, but he had made a good start. And both vowed to never let their brother go that way alone. That's what brothers are for after all.

"Ah, yes, Sabo-", Ace started, " how did you even get the idea to analyse what she said?" Ace was really curious.

Sabo blushed a bit. "Well, ya know, when I was three when my parents started having me educated. And since I was supposed to go to the Reverie at some point in my life, they decided to have someone come that taught me a bit about the grand line. Somehow, we ended up talking about time travel and devil fruit. He told me that I should write down what I remember, in case I ever got into some kind of situation where I travelled through time or something. I honestly thought that was stupid back then, but now?"

Ace grinned. "You know, I would call you nerd but know your knowledge comes in handy!"

Luffy laughed. "So it's a mystery!" Ace and Sabo had to fight the urge to bonk him on the head.

Then they got to work.

 _ **-with Marco and big Ace**_ -

Marco wanted to kill somebody. Ace had just explained why his little counterpart acted like that. Well not in detail. He said that many people had indirectly said that he shouldn't be alive. He also said that it had something to do with the secret he had talked to pops about. Marco understood that ace wasn't ready to share it yet. He would be ready when Ace would tell him though. That was what brothers were for after all.

He told Ace that, which got him a thanks and a bone-crushing hug. That was when Ace realized that Marco was still covered in Mud. Now they had two mud-monsters running around!

Oh well. There were more important things right now. Like telling pops where they were. He was probably worrying about them right now. But there was a problem. He couldn't leave Ace here alone, nor could he wait for the kids. Yes, they had heard that part of the conversation and decided to wait for them. It would hopefully prove they meant no harm to them. Now how to tell pops...

 _ **-meanwhile somewhere in the new world**_ -

He was not amused. They had been sailing normally, and now they were here. How it had happened, he didn't know. All he could remember was a girls voice that said something, before the wind picked up and they were blown here. The whole crew. Including their guest. Only he and his idiot captain could stay conscious though. All the others had fainted. Oh well, until the others woke up, they still had some time. Maybe he cou-

"Where are we? What happened?", a voice asked. Looks like their red-haired idiot-cabin boy had woken up.

Not really that much of a surprise.

"Where we are? No idea! But this smells like adventure!", his idiot captain shouted. "Right after I check if my queen is ok."

He chuckled. That woman was the only thing his idiot captain would wait for. Everything else he could ignore ( well, except if one of them was injured. Then he would wait too).

This crazy crew would be the death of him someday. But not today. And not as long as 'certain' people needed a babysitter.

But he knew, that they would do anything for him, same as he would do for them. Even if it meant being the party-pooper.

"BEFORE WE GO ANYWHERE, WE FIND OUT WHAT'S GOING ON!", he yelled.

Yet, he could only smirk at the gulps and hasty 'yes sir's'. Even if they were idiots, they were his idiots and he would protect the with his life.

 _ **AN:**_ _ **So here is chapter 2! I'm sorry for the longer wait, but I did finish it in the two-week radius that I had anticipated. As said before, I will try to update in that radius. Also, thank you to Lunapok for answering my question! It means a lot and it did come in handy! And here it comes:**_

 _ **To Visitor 18:**_ _ **Thank you! I didn't really realize tham my !childAce was a bit OOC. I tried to correct it in this chapter, which is why it took so long, as I rewrote parts from scratch. But I got many ideas thanks to your review! The answers to your other questions are in the text. If something is still wrong, please do help me out again.**_

 _ **To Nachuu:**_ _ **Thank you, I really appreciate that people out there enjoy my work! Thank you!**_

 _ **To Lunapok:**_ _ **Thank you for your two reviews! As said before, it feels great to have people enjoy your work! Especially when it's more hobby- like! And thanks for answering my questions! It always helps a lot!**_

 _ **To Aravas13:**_ _ **Thank you too! I'm glad to hear that and I hope I meet your expectations!**_

 _ **To sdkop21:**_ _ **I'm flattered! you were the first to review and it was very positive! I hope you still like it!**_

 _ **Personally, I can just say thank you to everyone who reviewed and reads my story! I am happy to know that it can entertain you! And sorry for not mentioning you earlier, but I figured i'd rather ask before I do something.**_

 _ **Speaking of asking, I have another question for you! I have a few characters that will definitely be in this story. I am not going to tell you which ones, as it would be a pretty massive spoiler in some cases. But I would like to know: which character to you want to see? The one with the most votes that I haven't planned to include in this story will be included, along with any suggestions I have ideas for. Let your creativity run wild! It can be any one you want. I am excited to be reading your suggestions!**_


	4. Chapter 3 Enter the Whitebeard pirates!

_**Disclaimer: I don't own one piece. It belongs to Mr. Oda**_

 _ **TRIGGER WARNING AT NAMUR'S PART: it has dark thoughts, as it is important for his past in my fanfiction (like suicide or harming oneself). Though to be honest, I don't think it is too bad, as it is mostly implied. I just thought I'd mention it to warn you guys if you are sensitive. Now on with the story!**_

It was a fairly normal day in marine HQ. As normal as it could get with thousands of people that were more or less crazy running around. Though none of them could amount to 'his' craziness. Nobody could. Just thinking of his antics made him get a headache. Yes, at times like this he hated his position, as he had to deal with it. Yes, sometimes it was a curse to be fleet admiral.

Sengoku sighed, and turned the page of his newspaper. Might as well try to relax while he could. Not long before-

*CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!*

Wait a minute, three crashes? Did Garp finally go insane?! Sengoku's eye started twitching noticeably, remembering all the times he had tried to make it clear to Garp, that he wasn't supposed to punch through walls. Doors existed for a reason after all. And he had just fixed his walls this morning! Seriously, what was wrong with that idiot!? Sengoku looked up to give his brainless friend a piece of his mind, when he stopped in his tracks.

He had to be drunk, there was no other explanation a to what he just saw. Or he had to be hallucinating. He closed his eyes for a second, and opened them again. Well, drunk it was. Could somebody get drunk without them noticing? He didn't know. But there was no other explanation.

There was not one, not two but three Garps in front of him, grinning at him like the madmen they were. There was one thing though, they most certainly weren't the same age. The first Garp looked about as old as he was during the good old days. The days they spent running after Roger and his crew, where they were still in the same position. Young fools, thinking they could live forever...

The second one looked like he was about the right age, that meant the age he was supposed to be now. The same old idiot that he came to know over the years until now (and dare he say it, came to like too).

The last one however, looked older. He looked at least two to three years older than he was supposed to be, and unlike the other two, he hid sorrow behind that cheery grin. Deep sadness, that could only mean the worst. But he was trying to hide it, so he wasn't ready to speak about it. He hid it really well, Sengoku wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't been close. But if he hid it like that, he should wait until Garp was comfortable with speaking to him.

Regardless, he felt three migraines speeding his way. And all of them had the name Garp. He sighed and face planted on his desk. This would be difficult.

-with the Whitebeard pirates-

Haruta was starting to get really nervous. It had been four hours since Marco and Ace had left, along with Jozu, Vista, Curiel, Blamenco, Namur, Atmos, Kingdew, Fossa, Blenheim, Speed Jiru and Rakuyo. Why so many commanders were on the island? Easy- it was under their protection and they needed to relax a bit. It was her turn tomorrow, and she and Thatch knew exactly what they were going to do. If Marco and Ace showed up, of course. The other commanders had returned an hour ago, though Namur had looked a bit shaken up (one could clearly see that the Fishman-commander had been crying. If she ever found out who made her brother cry...

She walked around the top-deck once more, looking towards the island. If Marco and Ace didn't show up soon, they would search the island for them. She knew all of her siblings were worried too, they were way more fidgety than normal and couldn't keep still for even a second.

She really hoped that her brothers would show up soon.

-with Whitebeard-

Whitebeard was worried. Two of his sons, Ace and Marco, were really late. One hour to be precise. That was very unusual for Marco. Not for Ace though ,he was quite the troublemaker. Still, Marco would have been here, and knowing him he would've dragged Ace to the boat kicking and screaming if he needed too.

Well, they were old enough to take care of themselves, he guessed. They should be able to find back to the ship alone. Still, it didn't stop him from worrying. He guessed it was in his nature as a father to over one thousand men and women. Some of them were, how should he put it, immature (*cough, Thatch, cough*), but he loved them nonetheless.

Still, he hoped Marco and Ace would hurry up. Not only he was worried, the whole crew was worried too. He had watched Haruta pace around the top-deck impatiently, looking towards the island with anxious anticipation. That behaviour was copied by some of her siblings, his children. Understandable, with the trouble that followed the second division commander everywhere. Heck, sometimes even Marco couldn't manage to keep him out of trouble. And that was saying something...

He just hoped they were alright.

-with Ace Sabo and Luffy-

The trio was currently trying to analyse the poem. Well, Sabo was at least. Luffy tried to help, but he got distracted way to easily. And Ace? Well, he was being the overprotective big brother he was, and kept Luffy from falling off of the tree. That actually caused quite the racket.

Sabo felt his vein in his forehead start to throb as Ace prevented Luffy from eating a poisonous fruit. It was just way too loud and way to noisy.. he couldn't concentrate.

And the poem, well, he would manage on his own but it would be great if they got some help from somebody who had a more experience than they had. He was smart and all, but in the end he was just an inexperienced 10 year old boy, who had never been off of Dawn Island. He didn't know anything about the world, let alone the grand line. He did do stuff with his tutor, but besides that one cool hour when they talked about devil fruit, he only learned about snobby noble stuff. Stuff, that wouldn't help him at all.

Oh well, there was no use in staying here for a bit longer, so he might as well try to break the news to his brothers. There was no telling how they would take it. Especially for Ace. Well, it would be better to get it over with before one of them fell out of the tree.

"Hey, guys,", he started, " I think we should ask to go to the ship. We won't be able to do to much on our own, and we don't have the needed experience to decode the poem. We would be better off if we went to the ship.".

Ace started staring at him with blank eyes. God, he hated it when Ace did that. "What if my copycat and his companion already left? They could've decided that we weren't worth the trouble."

"Silly Ace! They wouldn't leave! They're good guys! I can tell!", Luffy practically shouted. He was bouncing up and down because of his anticipation. "Besides, we could see a real life pirate ship! And go on it! Shanks wouldn't let me on his 'cause he didn't want kids on board and Bluejams was horrible!" Luffy then proceeded to use the puppy dog eyes on Ace. Ace tried to look away, but Luffy still got him. No one could resist the puppy dog eyes of doom!

"Alright, Lu, Sabo, we can go but I have conditions that have to be met, in order for us to stay on the ship. Condition number one: NO ONE looks at Luffy. Condition number two: NO ONE looks at Sa-"

Sabo's hand had somehow found its way onto Ace's mouth, efficiently shutting him up. Ace was in his overprotective big brother mode, and he couldn't have that. It would just make things way too complicated. He tried to reason with Ace. " You know Ace, if you think up reasonable conditions, you get to have half of my meat at dinner." Ok, so bribing Ace was probably more accurate.

Ace thought about it for a while. Suddenly he grinned. "Ok, but for a week!" That was the minimum that he would accept. He wasn't that reluctant to go on the ship though, it's just that it is hard to fight against your instincts, especially if they were acquired at a very young age. He knew that they wouldn't be dangerous, especially if Luffy said so, but... He had his habits.

Sabo on the other hand tried to look annoyed, but no one could miss the look of relief that shone in his eyes. He was happy that Ace had agreed to the deal, and he hoped he would open up more. He didn't think that the older Ace was a fraud, they had way too much in common for that. And he had matured well. As well as he could, that being said. The darkness that was in younger Ace's eyes was almost gone in the older versions eyes. He couldn't help but feel that this would help all of them.

Luffy was just happy that Ace was alright. If Ace was happy, he was happy! He could sense Ace was still unsure, but he knew the really cool pirates would be nice, they had a cool flag after all! And whoever had such a cool flag couldn't be evil, could they? Bluejam's was ugly and he had a ugly heart, so a cool flag should equal a nice heart, shouldn't it? It would just be another adventure! And they would be pirates!

-with Namur a bit later-

Namur was headed to pops' room. He just had to talk about that little boy, those little boys. They weren't like the other humans at all, they didn't care about what race one had. He hadn't seen loathing, hatred or even fear in their eyes, instead he saw love, curiosity and confusion. He attributed the confusion to why he was crying, but in his defence, he never really experienced love outside of the family. Everyone either hated or feared him, and then there were the pleasant individuals that thought he would make the perfect slave (*note the sarcasm). He really wasn't used to it. Though he had to admit, it was refreshing to not be seen as less than human.

He had arrived outside of pops' room. Pops could, no doubt, feel his presence. He himself stretched his Kenbunshoku Haki and took in the comforting presence of his father. Whatever happened, he could make it right. Namur gathered himself, and knocked on the door. They had a lot to talk about.

"Come in.", the voice of his father rumbled. Namur always felt reassured when he heard that voice, it reminded him of good times. Of the happiness they had experienced together, the love they had shared... If there was one human that deserved to be respected, it was Whitebeard, his pops.

Namur opened the door and looked into the room to see his adoptive father sitting in a chair and reading the news. He was glad that he wasn't interrupting anything important. Pops did say nothing was more important than his children, but Namur still felt better that he wasn't bothering him. He had grown up learning that he shouldn't be seen or heard, only when he was called for. Until pops rescued him that one day, he couldn't even picture the word happiness, let alone the words freedom, independency and peace. Every day was filled with hatred, loathing and pain, with being constantly reminded that he would always be less than human, even more than he already was. With being reminded that he would never be free. There was more than one day when he wished he would just die, or that he had never been born. But pops gave him a new perspective, he was accepted here, he was not considered as less than human or as a ugly fish-freak. No, he was their brother, pops' son. And he would do anything to protect his family.

Namur sighed contently. It was good to have a family he could talk too. Or just get the comfort he needed, like right now. He simply sat down and leaned onto his father, who promptly embraced him. Pops always knew just what he needed.

They sat like that in silence for a while, if it was mere minutes or even hours, Namur couldn't bring himself to care. He simply embraced the love his father laid upon him, and tried to give the same amount to him.

He couldn't bring himself to speak, not wanting to ruin the moment they shared.

Whitebeard on the other hand was worried. His son rarely behaved like this, and when he did it usually meant nothing good. He had endured enough pain in his life, and he didn't deserve more. If he as much as heard that somebody had made him feel sad, had said anything about his past or him being a fishman...they would be in big trouble for sure. Still, what Namur needed know was comfort, and he gave it to his son. Sometimes just sitting in silence with someone else could help. Knowing they were there for you, yet not talking...

He decided to wait until his son was ready, no matter how long it took. A good father should be able to do that after all. So he just sat there, embracing his son.

After a while, Namur spoke. "Pops", he started, "why are humans so complicated?". That question caused Whitebeard to look down at his son, thinking somebody said something that had hurt him. He would absolutely not tolerate that.

"Why do you ask, son?", he wanted to know.

"Today when we were on Little Nature island (AN: Little Nature because no animal is bigger than a middle-sized dog, regardless of its species), I met this little boy and his brothers. They were different than most humans, heck the little one didn't even know about fishmen, and I doubt the raven haired older one did either. They didn't hate me, they didn't think any less of me. The two older ones treated me like the other commanders around, just like Jozu, Vista, Curiel, Blamenco, Atmos, Kingdew, Fossa, Blenheim, Speed Jiru and Rakuyo. They were in a hurry, sure, but their eyes held no hatred or fear! The raven haired ones did hold self-loathing though, but I just don't know why. And other than that, they only had confusion, love and curiosity in their eyes. The confusion was understandable, since the raven haired one didn't know about fishmen, but no hatred or anything! The blonde haired one even seemed happy to meet me. And the little one..."

Namur trailed off, and they sat in silence once again. Whitebeard know understood why his son was so shaken up after returning. He wasn't used to that outside of the family, and the other fishmen crewmembers they had, his other sons and daughters, would have reacted similarly, even if their pasts were different. It was common knowledge that humans hated fishmen after all, most without a real reason.

"Pops" ,Namur started again, "he hugged me! He hugged me after asking what I was! He said he thought I was cool! Why does this sick and twisted world do that? Why does it give birth to people as innocent and pure as those boys, and to monsters like the Celestial Dragons that don't care about any life except their own? How is it even possible?"

Whitebeard picked his son up, and placed him on his arm, so that he could lie comfortably, and he embraced him once more.

"I don't know the answers to those questions Namur, son. But I do know people like those boys are born for a reason. To lead this world into a better, brighter future. To shake it to it's core and question everything about it. To make the people see." Whitebeard sighed. He was happy that Namur had met these boys, they had shown him that not all humans were evil.

"Pops, the old raven haired one reminded me of Ace." Namur added. This had Whitebeard thinking. When they had met Ace, he had major trust issues. And from what he understood, the kid was no older than ten! This concerned him, and he mentally made the resolve to invite the kids to join his crew, his family.

They would show them the nice things in life, freedom, how it was like to be a pirate. They would help them. Show them that here, nobody cared about ones past, just about the now. Yes, he had already decided he liked the brats and he hoped he would meet them soon.

Little did he know, that he would meet them way sooner than anticipated.

 _ **AN:** __**Uh, well. 1 month and I did not update. *quickly hides under the blanket* Don't be too mad, please! I know this can explain why I haven't updated in so long, but not excuse it. I just had a ton of things to do for school, and it isn't looking too good in the future. I am really sorry I couldn't update, but school requires a lot. But please forgive me this time! I promise I'll try to update more frequently. Now to the reviews! *wipes sweat off of brow***_

 _ **To Lunapok:** **Thanks for your ideas! I also think that the Strawhats or Law could fit into the story, I just have to figure out how. Speaking of which, the question stands so if you have more ideas or anyone else has I will try to consider them! And Ace and Marco are indeed in dire need of a bath! XD**_

 _ **To**_ _ **yuzukikuran476 : I'm glad that you enjoy my story! and I do hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Considering the grammar and spelling mistakes, I have to apologize as I probably can't get rid of them completely. I'm currently living in Germany, so some of the German grammar or spelling might have rubbed off. I apologize for it, but I am thinking of asking somebody to check this story for such mistakes. A beta-reader! I hope that will help a bit.**_

 _ **Other than that, maybe you can guess what Namur's past is. I think I made it fairly obvious. And it will be important for the plot later on, so props to you if you can guess! That was all for this time, and I hope next time is a lot sooner. As always, I'm excited too be reading your suggestions! Until next time!**_


	5. Chapter 4 Warming Up

Disclaimer: I don't own one piece. It belongs to Mr. Oda

-with Ace, Sabo and Luffy a bit earlier-

It didn't take the boys long to gather up their belongings, they were whisked here without the chance to pack after all. The only thing they had besides their clothes were the pipes they fought with and the money they had stolen from some noble dumbass. And it was quite a lot of money, about ten million belis. Seriously, it was ridiculous how much money nobles carried on themselves. Then again, they probably had a lot more at home, so it didn't matter to them if they lost some. On the other hand, it meant more money for them.

It was painfully clear that Ace still was not comfortable with going on the ship of the guy, whose strength rivalled 'his'. He knew that there was nothing he could do if the man tried to attack them, and that was horrible for Ace. He wasn't strong enough to protect his brothers. He wasn't strong enough for anything. At least in his mind. Still, Luffy didn't feel anything wrong, so they could be nice? Even though it was foolish, and he knew better than to do it, Ace clung to that tiny light, that they would be different than the world. That they wouldn't care...

It was a foolish hope, he knew that. He would most likely end up disappointed again, that he knew, Still, Ace wasn't ready to give up on humanity just yet. Not yet...

Sabo on the other hand was interested in the crew. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that they could help Ace. Hell, if the pineapple- haired guy was any indication, they could really help Ace understand that he deserved to live. From what Sabo gathered from the 2 hours or so that he had known him, he was a nice guy. A very nice guy. And his companion... If it really was the older version of Ace he had developed really well. One could hardly see the sense of self-loathing, which was once painfully obvious to everyone. Or is, in the case of his brother. Sabo really hoped that his Ace, the younger Ace would develop well.

Wait, what was that? Sabo actually did a double-take. His brother actually looked hopeful! That rarely happened before, and he usually didn't show it. Of course, he didn't show it openly, but Sabo had known Ace long enough to notice the small spark of hope that was just waiting to be ignited. Even though it didn't shine brightly, it was still there and that was a MAJOR improvement. That was the moment when Sabo realized that the mystery girl didn't want them to get hurt, she wanted to help them, help Ace...

He didn't know how she knew Ace, and he sure as hell didn't know why she wanted to help Ace, but he was eternally grateful that she did so.

Luffy on the other hand was extremely excited! They were able to go on a real life PIRATE SHIP! Not even Shanks let him go on his pirate ship, at least not for travelling. Luffy was really excited to be able to do it with the cool banana-moustache pirates! Pineapple-guy seemed really, really nice and older Ace was here too! If Ace liked it there, then he did too. In Luffy's mind, there was no doubt that it was older Ace. They felt exactly the same! Just, big Ace was happier, and Luffy hoped little ace would feel that happy too.

The banana-moustache pirates were good people and Luffy couldn't wait to meet all of them.

As soon as the boys were done packing, they climbed down the tree to go and find the two people they met earlier. Ace and Sabo expected to have to search the Island for them, so it surprised them to see the two sitting on a bench. Sabo as grateful that they waited, as they did not know the island that well and would have gotten lost, again. Ace on the other hand couldn't believe they had actually waited. To him, it made no sense whatsoever to simply wait for a bunch of kids that one barely knew. Ok, his older copycat had a reason, but the pineapple didn't.

Oh well, it just meant they wouldn't have to track them down.

Luffy on the other hand didn't doubt that they had been waiting for them. They were good people after all. And good people wait for their friends.

The three boys went closer, wanting to tell them they were ready to go on to the ship, when they stopped. It couldn't be, could it? They weren't covered in mud, were they? Ace tried, but failed to hide a snicker, while Sabo did it out in the open. And you did not even have to talk about Luffy, he was laughing the loudest.

"Shishishi, you two are mud-monsters!", he practically yelled at them. Which was, in a way understandable.

Sabo then remembered that the pineapple-guy had saved them from falling into a mud puddle earlier. Why , Sabo didn't understand. But his state suggested that he hadn't even been gone to change, and the same could be said for the older Ace. Speaking of which, didn't the older Ace fall asleep when they got into that dilemma? Oh well, that just showed how much he trusted this pineapple-guy.

And, to be fair to Luffy, they did look like mud-monsters. Especially because of all the leaves, dirt and pebbles that stuck to the now semi-dry mud. Pineapple-head looked like a peacock too, as some very long leaves got stuck on his pants, pointing upward. The older Ace however, had random stuff stuck all over him. Heck, he even had a few pebbles stuck on his face. How the hell had he managed that?

Looking at Luffy flinging himself onto the two, Sabo really wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.

-with Thatch-

Thatch was very close to storming the island to find that stupid peacock! First he doesn't show up on time and second he is not here now. Now it is about two hours past the time limit they had agreed on. Seriously, what did that damn peacock think he was doing, worrying them all like that? It was MARCO after all, the guy known for doing paperwork throughout the night, the guy that was NEVER late!

Thatch was convinced that someone had attacked him at this point.

Or Ace had gotten them into trouble. That could be a possibility. Don't get Thatch wrong, it's just that something like this had happened before with the fire-logia. Of course Thatch was worried about Ace too, it's just that he had gotten used to that feeling a long time ago, and nothing too bad had ever happened to Ace.

Ok, there was that one time where he nearly got abducted by some creepy-scientist dudes because he had formed two devil-horns and a devil tail with his fire and covered himself in fire and smoke (he created the smoke using his fire). Aaand there was the time where he nearly got killed by some dragons because he had decided to use their egg to make fried eggs. Then there was the time when he almost fell off a cliff because he wanted to take a photo of the whole family to send to his little brother (He wanted to take the picture in front of some trees, that were only 10 feet away from the edge of the cliff. Ace was never allowed to choose the location for ANYTHING ever again).

Ok, scratch that thought, now Thatch was worrying his ass off because of both of them. First Marco, the responsible one is late and then Ace, the guy that can't keep out of trouble is with him. What in the hell did they get themselves into?

Thatch was about to go to pops to ask for permission to look for them, when Haruta came his way. She too looked tense and worried, which was probably how he looked like. Not that he couldn't understand it.

"Pops said we should start looking for Ace and Marco. Since this island is under our protection, they shouldn't have been attacked by other pirates, but in case that happened he's gonna send us. If we don't find them before nightfall, he will go himself.", Haruta said with a tired and worried voice.

Thatch nodded as they both jumped off the ship, both deep in thought and silent. It just wouldn't be the same on the Moby if those two went missing. But they were alive, they had to be! They couldn't be gone...

In the depths of his current despair, Thatch had a brilliant idea. Seriously, it was painfully obvious. Why nobody else had thought about it was beyond his imagination. Then again, they only usually used it in battle to sense their enemies, and Ace and Marco were anything but enemies. Yeah, that had to be it. Or pops wanted them to think of it on their own. Then it would make sense why he choose two commanders to look for them, as he could be sure that they knew how to do it.

"Ermm, Haruta, why don't we just use our Kenbunshoku Haki to find them?", he questioned. Haruta looked up to him with a blank expression. He thought he might have done something wrong when..

"Thatch, you are a literal _ **GENIUS!**_ ", Haruta hollered, nearly hugging Thatch to death. "That way we just have to find them! I love you Thatch!"

"You can thank me later, we have to find them first.", Thatch said grinning.

Thatch and Haruta stopped searching and instead they heightened their senses to the point, where they could feel different auras scattered all over the island. They started searching for Marco's Haki-mark and soon found it. You could barely miss it, really, it was very powerful. However, there were three young, unknown auras with him and Ace. Just what could it mean?

Haruta had obviously noticed it too, she was giving Thatch strange look that said as much as:' Kids? What the hell is going on here?'

Honestly, Thatch didn't know that either. But they weren't too far away, so they could walk over to them. He expected a good explanation from that stupid turkey and their pyromaniac.

-with Marco and Ace-

One couldn't blame Marco if he was a bit annoyed, could they? Ace was annoying as hell, even more than usual. He had called Marco a mod-peacock five times in the last three minutes. That caused Marco to throw him into the undergrowth, which resulted in lots of pebbles, grasses, etc. clinging

to Ace. It was most certainly not Marco's fault that Ace wouldn't be able to get them off very good, nor that it annoyed him now. He brought that onto himself.

Around the time when they had just stopped play-arguing, the kids had emerged from their improvised hiding spot. Not even little Ace was able to conceal his amusement at their state when he saw them, which to be honest was understandable. They did look a bit like idiots. (Somehow Ace had managed to get these giant feather-like leaves stuck to his pants, actually making him look like a peacock.)

The youngest one, Luffy, had yelled something about them being mud-monsters and crashed into them with full force. Seriously, that was way too strong for a seven year old boy. Luckily, this time they were not thrown to the ground, because they (Marco) knew how much force Luffy put behind it.

Suddenly, little Ace had come over to them with a blank expression on his face. Marco stopped chuckling about Luffy's antics when he noticed little Ace, sitting down next to him on a bench. As little Ace stared, Marco decided to just stare back, looking at him so he knew he could talk, but not saying anything, so he knew it was his decision. Marco really hoped he was doing the right thing.

Apparently so, since the younger Ace didn't look quite as hostile as before. He actually looked somewhat nervous as he addressed Marco.

"I still don't completely trust you," Ace stated, "but I am willing to give you a chance. We will go on your ship and travel with you, as it is too dangerous for us to stay here without any experience whatsoever (this he admitted rather grudgingly). **BUT** , as soon as you betray us, or make us feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable, you **WILL** regret it!"

To say Marco was stunned after this speech was an understatement. Not because of the wording, but because the kid unconsciously released Conqueror's Haki during his speech. He knew Ace had the king's disposition, but to awaken it that early... Something bad must've happened to them. This made Marco get angry at whomever had hurt HIS brothers, who dared to do it! It made him want to make sure he could never do it again...

But, he contained himself. He couldn't scare the brats off just yet, not before they hadn't seen the family. To make sure he didn't say anything that would freak them out, he phrased his next sentence very carefully.

"Don't worry-yoi, we would never hurt you or your brothers. We hold family above everything else, and if you want it or not, you are considered family-yoi. Not only because you are the younger version of my idiotic little brother, it's also because I like you and your brothers, and I know Pops will like you too-yoi. We seriously want to help you, and I'm sure we could help you decode that poem, as we have a lot more experience than you do. Besides, it would be inhuman and cruel to hurt brats as young as you are, that is against our principles-yoi."

Little Ace seriously looked relieved and hopeful, letting Marco know that he had said the right thing. Marco was glad that he did. He didn't want to hurt his younger-soon-to-be-brothers. He wanted them to be happy and have fun.

Marco and little Ace were still sitting when,

 **"SEE, I TOLD YA ACE! THE WHITE BANANA-MOUSTACHE PIRATES ARE NICE PIRATES! WE CAN TRUST THEM!"**

Luffy just yelled that into both their ears, startling both Ace and Marco. While Marco only jerked oh so slightly, Ace nearly fell off the bench. Big Ace was, of course, laughing his ass off about the whole thing while Sabo was snickering.

"Luffy! How many times have I told you not to do that you moron?!", Ace yelled, bonking Luffy in the head.

"Shishishi, can't remember.", Luffy giggled, clearly not caring about being hit in the head.

"Calm down, Ace", Sabo snickered, " it was pretty funny though."

"Oh, shut up Sabo", little Ace said, slightly embaressed.

"Weeell, never mind all that! I heard you were coming to the Moby?", larger Ace asked, a playful glint clearly visible in his eyes. " I can't wait to introduce you guys to Thatch 'n Haruta! Just thinking about all the wonderful pranks we could play makes me excited!"

Marco sighed. Of course that was were it was going. Best do some damage control.

"Do anything to my clothes, room, bed or anything and you have toilet-duty until the end of next year-yoi."

That had the big Ace gulping, clearly not wanting to have toilet-duty. No one wanted to. Why was quite obvious.

"That's normal?", Sabo asked, clearly not expecting this. Most people didn't, but that was actually kind of good (if their true behaviour as a crew was ever revealed, no one would take them seriously anymore) .

"Sadly, yes, and I get to deal with those idiots-yoi.", Marco sighed. That was when he sensed something, better said someone heading their direction.

" Speaking of idiots, I do hope you're in the mood for meeting some little Ace, Luffy and Sabo. Thatch and Haruta are heading this way."

 _ **AN:** **I'm late again?! Where does time go? I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to be late again! oh well, here is another chapter of my fanfiction. It isn't that long and exciting because it is a filler for the next one. Even though this might seem boring, it is important for the story. Ah, enough of my rambling and let's get to the review!**_

 _ **To**_ _ **yuzukikukaran476:**_ _**Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!**_

 _ **Ok, so I'll try to update in the next two weeks, but that night be a bit tricky as always with school and everything (We may have holidays here in Germany, but they give you ten thousand things you have to learn until the end of the holidays, ughh.), but I'll try my best! Until then, have a nice time!**_

 _ **See ya and until next time!**_


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